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Disney Channel
The Disney Channel is a cable TV network run by The Walt Disney Company. Disney Channel features family-oriented programming, much of it aimed at pre-teens and young adolescents. Overview Launched on April 18, 1983 as a premium channel (with occasional free previews), Disney Channel began with basic family programming of shows and movies. (It was then co-owned by The Walt Disney Company and Westinghouse.) Most of Disney Channel's programming today, surprisingly, does not heavily feature the "classic" Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy. The characters appear on occasion, especially during the holidays on movies such as Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, and are also featured on the show House of Mouse, which airs every weekday at 2:00 PM E/P on the channel. In 1997, Disney Channel took on a revamped look, with splitting the network into three programming blocks—''Playhouse Disney'', a block of shows aimed at preschoolers; Vault Disney, an overnight block that featured classic Disney shows and movies such as Zorro, Mickey Mouse Club, and The Love Bug; and the most distinct block, running from afternoon to late evening, called Zoog Disney, which was a programming block aimed at tweens (children approaching their teenage years)—''Smart Guy, ''Bug Juice, The Famous Jett Jackson, So Weird, etc. Zoog Disney also connected Disney Channel viewers and the computer, by allowing kids to interact with games and see their screen names on television. The programming block also featured anthropomorphic characters called Zoogs. In January of 2000, Disney Channel moved from premium cable to basic cable, and some design elements also changed. The Zoogs got new redesigned looks, and the channel's logo (which featured a 1930s-era Mickey Mouse on a black Mickey ear-shaped TV), introduced in 1997, was changed the reflect the Zoog Disney image. From 2001 through 2002, ratings grew higher with such shows as Even Stevens, Kim Possible and others. Lizzie McGuire became the network's banner show, and remains undefeated to this day as the highest-rating program the network has produced. Reruns of Lizzie continue to outrate competing shows, including those from Disney Channel itself. This led to the termination of Vault Disney and all other classic Disney programming in September 2002. The only actual spin-off of Disney Channel is Toon Disney, which features (mostly) cartoons either created or distributed by Disney. The ABC Family Channel (originally CBN and later The Family Channel and later Fox Family, founded in 1976 by Pat Robertson), is now owned by Disney and also features some programming similar to the Disney Channel. Today's Disney Channel runs mostly former ABC sitcoms such as Boy Meets World along with original programming such as That's So Raven and Phil of the Future, both of which have been shown on ABC after debuting on the Disney Channel. Other shows aired by Disney Channel include The Proud Family, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, American Dragon: Jake Long, Lilo & Stitch: The Series and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Additionally, a movie is broadcast almost every night, but not necessarily a theatrically released feature film. The Disney Channel airs new made-for-TV movies several times a year, and those are frequently broadcast during that timeslot. Occasionally, Disney will secure the rights to air a picture released by a non-Disney studio, such as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Preschool programming is still a part of the Disney Channel's morning schedule and includes Rolie Polie Olie, PB&J Otter, and The Book of Pooh. For reasons unknown to viewers today, the channel received a special citation from U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1984. Disney Channel has received criticism from some viewers for reducing or eliminating the classic Disney programming on its schedule in favor of new shows. However, other viewers have criticized the network for limiting production of those new series to only 65 episodes. For example, The Famous Jett Jackson, So Weird, Even Stevens, Lizzie McGuire, and Kim Possible all ceased production after exactly 65 episodes (not counting TV-movies or theatrical movies). Among recent Disney Channel series, That's So Raven is the only one for which the network has announced plans to produce more than 65 episodes. In the summer of 2005, Disney Channel promised its audiences an all-new version of the channel. This led to several rumours as to what would thus be found on it: *'An all-new logo and interface:' Heading into the fall season, this has not appeared to be the case. *'Programming controlled by a "main show":' The So Hot Summer's Click It to Pick It Saturday-night block followed on this premise (as does Zapping Zone on Mexico's version of the channel). *'New shows:' The main attractions were The Buzz on Maggie and Naturally, Sadie. (In addition, some new movies, like Spy Kids 2, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Bob the Butler [[Tom Green]] made it on the channel's schedule the entire season.) *'Old favourites shown in a special hour or all night long:' So far, nothing has come of this hopeful solution to fight the ongoing criticism facing Disney's line-up of shows. (However, some of the older Disney cartoons, like Robin Hood and the cult classic The Great Mouse Detective, aired on Sunday mornings in early summer.) On September 18 that same year, a new series, the Canadian-produced Life with Derek, started to take centre stage. Also planned for a fall premiere on Disney Channel was the animated series Katbot, but it was cancelled during production. Disney Channel Original Movies These movies originally premiered on the channel with the "Disney Channel Original Movie" (or DCOM for short) stamp. Incidentally, there have been several specials (such as multiple-part TV show episodes) that originally aired as TV movies on the Disney Channel, but are, strangely, not officially considered DCOMs (most likely as the term had not been invented when they originally aired), despite the fact that some of them run longer than most of the films listed here. Sometimes they play movies that are not DCOMs, but just movies. Such movies are Bob the Butler or Spy Kids. # Under Wraps (October 25, 1997) # You Lucky Dog (June 27, 1998) # Brink (August 9, 1998) # Halloweentown (October 17, 1998) # Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century (January 23, 1999) # Can of Worms (April 10, 1999) # The Thirteenth Year (May 15, 1999) # Smart House (June 26, 1999) # Johnny Tsunami (July 24, 1999) # Genius (August 21, 1999) # Don't Look Under the Bed (October 9, 1999) # Horse Sense (November 20, 1999) # Up, Up, and Away (January 22, 2000) # The Color of Friendship (February 5, 2000) # Alley Cats Strike! (March 18, 2000) # Rip Girls (April 22, 2000) # Miracle in Lane 2 (May 13, 2000) # Stepsister from the Planet Weird (June 17, 2000) # Ready to Run (July 14, 2000) # Quints (August 18, 2000) # The Other Me (September 8, 2000) # Mom's Got A Date With A Vampire (October 13, 2000) # Phantom of the Megaplex (November 10, 2000) # The Ultimate Christmas Present (December 1, 2000) # Zenon - The Zequel (January 12, 2001) # Motocrossed (February 16, 2001) # The Luck of the Irish (March 9, 2001) # Hounded (April 13, 2001) # Jett Jackson: The Movie (June 8, 2001) # The Jennie Project (July 13, 2001) # Jumping Ship (August 17, 2001) # The Poof Point (September 14, 2001) # Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (October 12, 2001) # Twas the Night (December 7, 2001) # Double Teamed (January 18, 2002) # Cadet Kelly (March 8, 2002) # Tru Confessions (April 5, 2002) # Get A Clue (June 28, 2002) # Gotta Kick It Up! (July 26, 2002) # A Ring Of Endless Light (August 23, 2002) # The Scream Team (October 11, 2002) # You Wish! (January 10, 2003) # Right on Track (March 21, 2003) # The Even Stevens Movie (June 13, 2003) # Eddie's Million Dollar Cook-Off (July 18, 2003) # The Cheetah Girls (August 15, 2003) # Full-Court Miracle (November 21, 2003) # Kim Possible: A Sitch In Time (November 28, 2003) # Pixel Perfect (January 16, 2004) # Going to the Mat (March 19, 2004) # Zenon: Z3 (June 11, 2004) # Stuck in the Suburbs (July 16, 2004) # Tiger Cruise (August 6, 2004) # Halloweentown High (October 8, 2004) # Now You See It... (January 14, 2005) # Buffalo Dreams (March 11, 2005) # Kim Possible: So the Drama (April 8, 2005) # Go Figure (June 10, 2005) # Life Is Ruff (July 15, 2005) # The Proud Family Movie (August 19, 2005) # Trollz: Best Friends For Life (August 27, 2005) # Twitches (October 14, 2005) # High School Musical (Coming January 2006) # Dairy Girls (Coming Early 2006) Channels * Direct TV: 290 & 291 * Dish Network: 172 & 173 * Time Warner Cable 64 & 150 & 120 (Also Saturday Mornings Channel 6) Disney Channel in the world United Kingdom A British version of the Disney Channel was originally scheduled to launch in 1989 as part of the Sky Television package, but due to an apparent dispute the launch was cancelled, and it was not until 1 October 1995 that it finally went on air. In the UK, Disney Channel runs a live program between shows, which viewers have the chance to call in, or play games. The programmer usually has guests, who are usually popular music artists in the UK. It runs Monday through Friday, from 15:45 to 19:00 GMT. As of July 4, 2005, there has been no airing of this program. The UK Disney Channel also has a +1 hour variant, a Toon Disney channel and a Playhouse Disney channel. Africa and Asia During the same decade the Disney Channel expanded its operations to Africa and by 2000 to much of Asia. Australia The Disney Channel has been broadcast in Australia by Optus Television, Foxtel and Austar since the late 1990s. In December 2005, Disney Channel will launch Playhouse Disney on the Foxtel and Optus Television Digital services. Scandinavia In 2003 the Disney Channel started broadcasting in Scandinavia via Viasat. The Scandinavian edition broadcasts three different soundtracks with Swedish, Danish and Norwegian dubbing. At first the Disney Channel was exclusively provided by Viasat, but after some months other companies started distributing the channel. In Sweden, the Disney Channel can be watched through cable via com hem, through satellite via Viasat and in the terrestrial network via Boxer. Starting on 1 August 2005 Disney Channel also will be aired by Canal Digital at the Thor Satellite. Latin America The Disney Channel has been broadcast in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It became a basic channel in 2004. Other Versions The Disney Channel is also available in Denmark, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Lebanon, India, Japan, Taiwan and the Middle East. See Also *Walt Disney anthology series *List of programs broadcast by Disney Channel External links *Disney Channel official site *List of Disney Channel Original Movies and their DVD/video availability *The Disneyland Report - Offers the latest news on the Disney Channel and other Disney news *The Biz: Disney Channel's Summer * Category:Disney Category:Mexico television networks Category:TV channels with British versions Category:United States television networks Category:Walt Disney Company subsidiaries Category:Television networks Category:Youth broadcasters